The Columbia Valley Rockies and the BCHL Langley Riverman junior hockey teams spent last weekend recruiting athletes for the upcoming season.
The $200 inclusive registration fee was geared toward athletes between the ages of 15 and 19-years-old before any of them attended the Rockies and Riverman Spring Camp 2016, which was held at the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena between April 15th and 17th with roughly 90 participants.
“It went really well,” said Wade Dubielewicz, Rockies’ head coach about the camp. “There was a really good mix from BC and Alberta, which is going to fair well for us in this upcoming season.”
The three-day long spring camp began with a check-in at the Eddie to allow participants an opportunity to pick-up their jerseys and schedules between 3 and 4:30 p.m. to determine who we like and what we want to do moving forward.”
The Langley Riverman, Mr. Dubielewicz added, are on of the top Junior ‘A’ leagues in Canada.
While the Rockies Junior ‘B’ team competes in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) and play 52 games per year during the regular season.
“At this point, we’ve locked up three kids (for the upcoming Rockies’ season) out of the spring camp and this week, we plan to lock up four more,” explained Mr. Dubielewicz.
At the end of the spring camp, Mr. Dubielewicz explained, each participant receives a one-on-one evaluation.
“We try to spend a decent amount of time watching every kid, so when they walk away from the camp, whether they’re getting positive or negative news from us, they’ve been told something of value to help them improve their game,” said Mr. Dubielewicz. “The camp went really well and we’re really excited about the kids that decided to come and have a look at Invermere.”
